Undiscovered Scotland: The Ultimate Online Guide

Haggis Pages:

The Haggis is as Scottish as the
kilt and the bagpipes. And
while, like the kilt and the
bagpipes, variations are found elsewhere in the world, the haggis you find in
Scotland is unique.

A word of warning. Those who have never tried haggis, and perhaps
those who have, may find it better to steer clear of the details we give below
of the ingredients and method of preparation, and just skip straight on to
topics like the wild haggis,haggis hurling, and
Robert Burns'Address to a
Haggis.

For those of a stronger disposition, the haggis is very probably a
dish that goes back for as long as there have been sheep in Scotland. This has
never been a wealthy country, and the rural areas in particular have always had
to struggle hard to make the best use of the limited resources available. When
you kill a sheep it is possible to preserve or store the meaty parts relatively
easily. But parts like the lungs, heart and liver tend to go off pretty
quickly.

At some point someone had the bright idea of mincing these elements
of the sheep; mixing the mince with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt;
stuffing the result into its stomach; and boiling it for a number of hours.
This is the haggis: and you were warned! When ready it is traditionally served
with "neeps and tatties": mashed turnips and potatoes.

Accounts differ about the origin of the name. Some claim it comes
from a Scandinavian word such as höggva,
meaning to chop: others that it comes from the Old French agace, meaning magpie, a bird that makes use of odds and
ends.

Haggis is traditionally served at Burns' suppers on 25 January each
year, which take place worldwide. But it remains an everyday food found in
Scottish butchers and supermarkets, and on the menus of even the best
restaurants wanting to add something of the true taste of Scotland. Perhaps
most commonly, it is on sale in the form a deep-fried batter-covered sausage in
fish and chip shops the length and breadth of Scotland. We
Scots will deep-fry
anything, from pizzas to batter-coated Mars Bars (this latter is sadly
not an urban myth!) and the chip shop haggis is
usually on sale alongside battered black puddings and battered white puddings.

There are many variations on the traditional recipe. Some do not
include the liver, for example. And it is even possible to get hold of a
vegetarian haggis (which seems something of a contradiction). In the United
States, the prohibition on the sale of animal lungs for human consumption means
that "real" haggis is extremely hard to obtain: and the smuggling of the
genuine article into the States is said to be quite common, especially in the
run up to Burns' night. At
least one manufacturer in the States now makes haggis that conforms with US law
but which is said to be virtually indistinguishable in taste from the real
thing.

There are other dishes around the world which resemble haggis in
one way or another. The eastern USA boasts scrapple
which uses pig offal instead of sheep offal; cornmeal instead of oatmeal; and
is baked as a meatloaf rather than boiled as a sausage. Elsewhere the
Netherlands is home to balkenbrij, Sweden to
pölsa (using beef), and Germany to
saumagen (using pork).

And, finally, haggis seems to have been prone to more than its
share of what you'd be tempted to call urban mythology were it not such an
essentially rural subject. Amongst the most persistent of these myths are the
story of the wild haggis, and (not quite so
mythical) accounts of the sport of haggis
hurling.